Proud Little Brats
by snowelle
Summary: Gruvia, NaLu, Jerza. AU Collab Fic with A. Z. Erins. On the surface, Fairy Tail Academy appeared to be like every other boarding school. But that really wasn't the case. Getting dragged in to be in Lucy's charity bachelor auction by Natsu wasn't Gray's best moment, Erza may have liked astronomy more than she let on, and Juvia's the new girl. Charity balls, dates, and guns.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi Guys! Snow here and this time A.Z. Erins and I are writing a joint fic on Fairy Tail! YAY! Okay, so the way this works is, she posts one chapter and I see it for the first time when she posts it and without talking about the plot with her, I write the next chapter and post it on my account along with her's. This way, we are seeing each other's chapters the same time you guys are and everything is a surprise to us. We will be building on each other's chapters. Anyways, go to her account to read her note if you wish. Chapter one (this chapter) is written by her and then I wrote the next one which I also posted already so go look at it. That's all for now, Enjoy**

**Ciao!**

**Snow**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Fairy Tail **

* * *

It was raining that day. Juvia was always happiest when it rained. While the other girls mourned the loss of blue sky and yellow luminescence, Juvia relished the feel of cool drops of water pelting her forearms under blankets of gray. While the other girls hurried inside with their hands held over their heads to block the mischievous beads of moisture, Juvia luxuriated in the sensation of chilled streams running from her hairline and down her neck. Rain was liberating, and she had long come to terms with her insane love of it. Truly, nothing was as refreshing as rain. Nothing as poetic or romantic. She pushed herself off of the softened mud, just barely missing catching her bare arms on the barbed wire, brought the gun parallel with eye level, and fired. Twice.

* * *

"Aw, Juvia! You're tracking mud into the hall!" Lucy cried out in horror. She scurried over to where Juvia had entered the room, grabbing a mop that had been propped along the wall from previous use and viciously scrubbed at the mud marks staining the wooden floor.

"And you're late. Honestly. I don't know why you train in the rain. It's muddy out and gross!" Lucy stopped scrubbing for a moment and glanced at Juvia in awe. Her eyes widened fractionally and she chuckled lightly.

"Your hair's dripping and you have mud on your cheeks," she said, reaching out to touch. Juvia jerked away before Lucy's fingers could make contact. Lucy's mouth formed a quiet little "o" in surprise.

"Ah...sorry." Juvia quickly corrected herself and edged back towards the blonde girl. "Go ahead."

Lucy waited a moment, then smiled warmly. Juvia held still while the blonde rubbed at the caked mud on her cheek. "Er...It's hardened a bit. Wait here! I'll be back with a wet towel," she exclaimed, turning and walking briskly away with the intent of returning in a moment. J

uvia watched her go. Becoming friends Lucy Heartfilia had sort of just happened. Or at least...Lucy said they were friends. Friends were kind of a new thing for Juvia. She wasn't used to having people rely on her to provide smiles or having them care about if she was hurt or not. It was slightly disorientating and at first, Juvia had tried to ignore it as much as possible. Juvia had always been a loner. To be honest, she didn't even know herself if she had chosen to be a loner or if it had just happened. She had grown into her teenage years on her own. Then everything had changed. Somehow she had ended up here. Where was here? Here was where blonde girls named Lucy Heartfilia wormed their way through Juvia's protective layers like fish through water. But it wasn't really a bad thing. Juvia sort of liked Lucy. Well...she sort of liked it here. Lucy was sweet. Lots of the girls here were sweet. Juvia could be found actually be found smiling from time to time, with more frequency and sincerity with each passing day. And yeah...Juvia had friends here. And that was...nice. Nicer than she could have imagined.

"Cana! You get your drunken self out of that corner and start hanging those streamers or I swear, I'll come over there and sober you up myself!"

"Bite me."

"Arrghhh!"

"Lucy-chan!"

"What, Levy?"

"I think I broke-"

"Don't even think about finishing that sentence."

Juvia found a lazy smile on her face as she took in the scene unfolding in front of her. She hastily scrubbed at the mud on her cheek, realizing that the promised towel was not coming anytime soon and ran off to join Erza Scarlet at the photobooth.

* * *

"Lucy-chan!"

"Agh! Natsu, get off of me! What are you doing here." The pink-haired boy fixed his black eyes on her brown ones.

"Professor Dreyer gave me a fucking detention!" He threw his hands up into the air in desperation before meeting Lucy's eyes again.

"So...yeah...I'm here to help with the charity ball for detention!"

The boy's despair seemed to be only momentary because at that moment, he was bouncing on the balls his feet itching for something to do. Lucy had learned the hard way to always a little wary of Natsu as he tended to be slightly...wily. He leaned closer to her waiting to be told what to do, and she inched slightly away.

"Ah...what did you do to get detention, Natsu?" He rocked back on his heels, a strange mix of glee and distaste taking over his features.

"It was this morning. We were just learning about electricity in Dreyer's physics class, ya know, and we doing some experiments and stuff and I'm partnered with Gray, right?" Natsu shot her an earnest glance. Lucy nodded warily.

"And next thing I know," Natsu resumed, "Gray's on fire and-"

"You caught Gray on fire?" Lucy exclaimed incredulously.

"Are you serious? You idiot, I can't believe this! And-and...how does that even happen? Oh my God! Is he okay? I mean-"

"Calm down! He's fine." Natsu's eyes radiated disapproval. "It was just the sleeve of his shirt. That girl...Juvia, yeah, she put it out. Oh!" The boy doubled over as his body was wracked with laughs. "You should've seen his face! She sprayed the fire extinguisher all over him. His face! He was not happy." Lucy glanced at Juvia working on the other side of the room with Erza on the photo booth and felt her shoulders droop as she brought her eyes at Natsu in disbelief. Oh, what was she going to do with this boy. She sighed. "Fine. Go help Levy with the lights." Natsu flashed her a grin and a wink and bounded off to help Levy. Honestly. He was always getting into trouble, Lucy thought, as she oversaw the other students in the room, making little markings on her checklist of things to do before tomorrow night. She blew a couple of blonde strands of hair out of her face before sitting in one of the chairs that had been placed and decorated at the side of the room for guests who would choose to sit during the festivities. At least work was actually being accomplished now. A week ago, Lucy could barely get anyone to listen to her, let alone actually decorate the hall that they had rented. Looking around the room now, she could actually begin to see the setting for tomorrow's charity ball materialize. Thank God. They were raising money for the school and Lucy had naturally volunteered to head the organization committee. Why had she done that again? No sooner had the thought crossed her mind when she heard something explode. Instinctively, her training kicked in and she ducked, blocking her most vulnerable areas and tucking her head behind her hands. Eventually the smoke cleared and it was ascertained that there was no danger. "NATSU!" ***

"Ah, I'm so tired." Lucy collapsed into Erza's lap sleepily and yawned.

"Remember how Natsu fucking blew up some of the lighting fixtures today? Well, he told me that he'd make it up to me somehow and so I told him that I'm signing him up to be one of the bachelors for tomorrow, but you know what the idiot said? He said 'I can't...but I'll get one of my friends to do it for you, Lucy-chan!'" The girl scrunched her face up in distaste. "He better...we're still short a couple bachelors and bachelorettes." The older girl didn't react, remaining still on the bench that she had perched herself upon. Lucy popped back up. "Erza?" No response. "Erz-" "Shh!" Erza's eyebrows were drawn together in intense concentration as she stared across the campus grounds and something in the distance. Lucy whirled around on the bench, still partly in Erza's lap to distinguish what had caught the redhead's attention. "What? I don't see...it's too dark to see any-" "Shh!" Lucy shut up and waited. Without a word, Erza stood up suddenly. Lucy let out an undignified yelp as her rear hit the ground, which was still rather wet from the earlier downpour, rather forcefully. "I'm going to join that." Erza stated matter-of-factly, pivoted on her heel, and stalked off without another glance at Lucy. "Wha-?" Lucy strained her torso a second time to find what Erza had seen. In the distance, she could just barely see a ring of several boys and girls seated on a blanket in the grass in the middle of the campus quad. They had what looked like a telescope propped up in the space between them and were taking turns speaking. "What. The Astronomy Club?" There wasn't an answer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright, Chapter 2 guys! I worked pretty hard on this and I'm going to be out of the country for 10 days so don't expect another chapter out of me anytime soon. I hope y'all enjoyed the first chapter, I thought it was pretty good (Thanks A. Z. Erin, for giving me something to work with). As she mentioned, we are both posting the entire story up on our own accounts so you can read either, it's all the exact same. Also, she's going to be reading this for the first time once I post it so, basically, she's in the same position as you. She has no idea what I'm going to write. It's going to be slightly difficult to get her chapters on my account though because stupid fanfiction decided to BAN copy and pasting stories, how annoying. But anyways, you lovely readers, I hope you enjoy chapter 2 and stuff will slowly start to make sense to you. **

**Cuz it's stuff...**

**And it's supposed to make sense...**

**You get my drift?**

**Kay, enjoy.**

**Disclaimer (because she forgot to do one, I'll make this for the entire story): A. Z. Erin and I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the characters from Fairy Tail and if a song somehow comes up in this story, we don't own that either.**

**-Snow**

* * *

_Chapter 2_

_By Snowelle_

* * *

"Fuck, Natsu get off the chandelier!" Lucy shouted, entering the hall after her short break. The blonde girl rushed to the center of the room and tried not to die of panic when the giant chandelier started to swing due to the weight of a certain pink haired boy.

"But Lucy-"

"No. Fucking. Buts. Natsu get down before I shoot you." Lucy said in an eerily calm voice that sent chills up Natsu's spine. He dropped down from the chandelier and apologized.

"Sorry Luce, it was a dare."

Lucy sighed. "How did you get up there anyways."

"Happy took me!" He proclaimed proudly. Lucy's eyebrow twitched and her brown eyes narrowed.

"Why is Professor Happy in the hall?"

"Because he's my friend! I invited him."

"And where is he now?"

"Um," Natsu bit his lip, trying to remember, "I think he said he was going to eat lunch."

A sinking feeling settled in Lucy's stomach as she realized the implications of the blue flying cat eating lunch. Happy was an exceed, the result of a genetic experiment run by the science department of their school, and exceeds normally had giant appetites. Happy eating lunch equals Happy eating fish. Happy eating fish equals Happy in the kitchen. Happy in the kitchen equals...

She didn't even want to think about it.

"Everyone," She started in a tired voice, "Just go eat lunch. And make sure Happy doesn't eat more than three fish." Natsu leaped with glee and dashed out of the hall. He was soon followed by the rest of the students who had been working nonstop since 8 am that morning. Lucy was starting to worry if they would be finished with the decorations by that evening when guests would start to arrive for the charity ball.

Lucy laughed a little as she realized she didn't even have a dress. The blonde made a mental note to never do something like this again, she was sure her life span had been shortened by at least ten years due to all the stress. A crack of thunder sounded outside the building. What was with all the rain lately? Lucy tucked a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear and straightened her rumpled pink and white top. Soon she was drowning in her thoughts, staring at nothing and thinking about a million things. It was a habit she'd gotten from her mother. Or so she was told. Lucy only remembered a few things about her mother. She remembered fancy dresses, pretty blonde hair, and the warmest brown eyes. She remembered stories and poems and songs. But most of all, Lucy remembered her laugh. Funny, how one person's laugh could affect the entire house. She remembered how it seemed to ring through the entire mansion and Lucy would also laugh along with her father. And then it all changed.

She shook her head. Now was not the time to think about the past. All that mattered was that now she was here, in this school, with these people. It had already been three years since she arrived and her previously soft brown eyes had been hardened with the things she had seen.

"Lucy." A voice interrupted her thoughts and she immediately went rigid, turning around in her fighting stance only to see Gray Fullbuster standing in the entrance. His inky black hair was soaking wet and one particular lock was way shorter than the others. And he wasn't wearing clothes.

"I-idiot!" Lucy blushed and covered her eyes yelling at him, "Go put some clothes on before you get pneumonia!"

"What! I was wearing a shirt a few seconds ago-"

"What are we going to do if you catch a cold! You still have to be a bachelor tonight or we won't have enough!"

"Hey, that isn't fair, I never volunteered!"

"Too bad, you still have to do it! What did you come here for anyways?"

All of a sudden Gray was silent. Lucy stared at him expectantly, seemingly ignoring his-erm _bare_ state. A few sneezes and a glare later, Gray cleared his throat.

"So, what are you wearing to the ball tonight?"

"Nice try Gray, why are you really here?"

A few more moments in silence passed and Lucy was starting to get anxious. Was he going to ask her for money or something?

"Can I borrow some underwear?"

* * *

Erza Scarlet didn't normally peek at people but as she munched on her slice of chocolate cake, she couldn't help but stare at the man a few feet away from her.

_'Jellal Fernandez' _The redhead repeated the name over and over in her head. The blue haired, nineteen year-old boy was sitting on a table talking to Zeref (who was napping and obviously not listening) and Freed. Why did she think about him so much? She didn't even know. Her cheeks started to pink slightly as she thought about the previous night when she had unceremoniously left Lucy to join the Astronomy Club.

_"Erza! What are you doing here?" Jellal asked, smiling a little at the girl with scarlet red hair. _

_"I wanted to see astronomy." _

_"Oh, you mean the stars? They're really pretty tonight. Come on, you can still join us." _

_"..."_

Erza mentally slapped herself. Why did she have to be so stupid. She didn't even like astronomy. All it was was a bunch of burning rocks floating around in space, what was so interesting about that? Yet she planned on joining them again for the next meeting. And the next. Hell she was even almost thinking about quitting her own armor club.

_Almost_. There's nothing that Erza enjoyed more than her vast collection of armor (except maybe cake) but to think that Jellal of all people could make her think about quitting her own club!

Her eyes drifted to Gray as he walked in the room. He was soaking wet, half naked (as usual), and had a nice sized bruise on his cheek. Juvia immediately ran over to him with a worried look in her eyes.

"Gray-sama! What happened?" She quickly rushed over to the freezer to grab an bag of ice, wrapped it in a towel, and handed it to Gray. Said boy mumbled something along the lines of "that damn woman" and "underwear" before popping open the bag and munching on the ice.

"Ah, no, Gray-sama that ice was for your cheek!" Juvia proclaimed before noticing his state of undress and nearly fainting. Levy quickly dragged her back to her seat before the poor girl could pass out. Sighing, Levy turned teasingly to Erza.

"Erza-san do you like Jellal?"

All of a sudden Erza couldn't breathe. Her face turned a brilliant shade of red and her eyes narrowed. Her mouth opened and closed and it was suddenly starting to feel stuffy inside the metal armor she wore over her blue and white sailor uniform.

"Oh my god, Erza are you alright? I didn't mean anything by it! I mean, I just thought since you were staring and even went to the Astronomy club yesterday...but I guess I was wrong. I'm so sorry!" Levy apologized repeatedly, running to get water for the scarlet haired girl who looked like she was about to choke. Juvia, who was still lost in her own thoughts, didn't seem to notice.

"Hey Erza, can I have your fish?" Happy, who had been happily munching on seafood on the stove, flew over to Erza and pointed to the plate beside her. Her face cooled down a little and she looked over at the small blue cat who was smiling at her expectantly.

"...Fine. Just don't touch my cake."

Happy happily shoved the fish in his mouth and contentedly lay down for a nap.

After Erza drank some water and calmed down Lucy walked into the large kitchen with a large smile on her face.

"All right everyone, according to my observations, we should be done preparing before the ball starts! Let's get working people!"

After a lot of grumbling, everyone filed out of the kitchen. That's when Lucy noticed a silver gleam from the corner of her eye outside the window. Her brown eyes narrowed briefly.

A shatter from the ballroom brought her back to Earth and she stared at the window for a few more moments before running out of the kitchen, deciding to investigate later.

* * *

Makarov Dreyar had never before been so terrified of anything in his life than what he was looking at in the picture in front of him. His eyes widened considerably and he sat down, scratching his chin.

"So you see, Headmaster Makarov, we need to get this out immediately so some students can depart-"

"No." Makarov replied to the aging, pink-haired woman in front of him. "No, Porlyusica, it's too dangerous."

A few moments passed and no one at the table uttered a word. Finally, Porlyusica sighed.

"I understand your feelings Makarov." She said sternly. "But we cannot allow this to spread. I know the dangers and as my years as a medic I have seen many things and suffered the consequences of rash behavior. At least send a few of our best to investigate the matter and if it's too dangerous, we can retract them at you order."

Another wave of silence passed over the room and a blonde man with spiky hair and a lightning shaped scar running down his face opened his mouth to speak.

"Quiet, Laxus. I already know what you're going to say. You are not going out there."

"Gramps! I'm prefectly capable of going out there!" Laxus spoke loudly making the older participants of the meeting wince loudly.

"I know you're capable but right now we need you here as a teacher. Please understand." Makarov spoke firmly and Laxus shut up, although unwillingly.

"Everyone, this meeting is dismissed. I will decide what to do tonight and let you know after the Charity Ball."

* * *

The moment was finally here. The decorations were in place, the lights twinkled, and the grand chandelier was in tact. All the round tables had been covered in white cloth(although Levy claimed it was eggshell, not white) and the chairs had royal blue bows tied in the back. Each person had a plate, a wine glass, and a program with all of the bachelors and bachelorettes listed with pictures and bios. The makeshift stage at the front of the room, right next to the food tables, was fitted with a microphone and eight giant gift boxes.

Everything was perfect and Lucy was happy.

"Alright everyone, good work today! Keep in mind that I need the bachelors and bachelorettes to report in the basement half way through the party so you can be lifted in to the gift boxes on the stage."

"Thank God." Evergreen grumbled.

"Yeah, what a waste of a Saturday." Cana agreed, taking a drink from her silver flask.

Lucy glared and swiped away the flask.

"Cana, I need you to be sober tonight. No one wants a drunk bachelorette."

"As if I would get drunk _that_ easily, who do you think I am?" Cana replied saucily, swiping back her flask and downing it.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Okay, where did Erza, Levy, and Juvia go?"

"They said they were going to get dressed." A meek voice replied from Lucy's right. She jumped and saw a young, blue haired girl smiling at her.

"Oh, Wendy, there you are!" Lucy said happily, giving the younger girl a hug. "Thanks for showing up, I know you're busy with medic classes."

"Of course she's busy with medic classes, you should be glad she even bothered to come!" A voice from behind Wendy spoke out. A white exceed, this time a girl, appeared from behind Wendy with her nose high in the air. "Her schedule is very tight!"

"Carla! Stop, I'm glad to attend!"

"Hmpf!"

Wendy shook her head. The young blunette was a prodigal twelve year old with exceptional capabilities in medicine. She was originally in the middle school department of Fairy Tail Academy, but she took all of her medicine related classes in the High school, making her familiar with most of the students.

"Oh, by the way Wendy, you can go change into a dress if you want." Lucy pointed out the dressing room and Wendy hurried off to change.

Just as Wendy left the room, the three absent girls walked in. Erza walked proudly in front, Levy in the middle, and Juvia walked shyly in the back.

"Um...Erza?" Lucy said, a little apprehensive.

"What is it?"

"Why are you in a wedding dress?"

* * *

**Alright guys, if you liked it please tell us, if you didn't like it, also tell us. Sorry if the chapter is a little rushed, I wanted to have it up before going on vacation so A. Z. would have something to work with. As you can see that never happened... ehem... well yes I'm glad I even managed to get this up. **

**So, enjoy, and...**

**CIAO!**

**-Snow**


End file.
